Shapeshifting - Chrysalis' Journal
 

So, I'll be talking about three things in here:

• Music: This will be limited to album reviews and me posting a few songs that I've been listening to a lot recently.
• Video Games: This is a subject that, to my knowledge, has never been talked about in journals on here. I was going to make a separate journal for this (like Plankton having a separate journal for guitar players and Conan starting a (short-lived) journal about dreams, although both of these are related to music), but I'll just keep everything in one journal. I'll probably just limit this to reviews of games that I've been playing recently.
• Television: As far as I know, Trollheart is the only person to talk about this in his journal. I'll admit that I don't watch television that much, so you won't see me mention it that much in here, but I'l probably review a few shows ater I've finished watching them in their entirety.

Anyway, I suck at writing introductions for things like these, so I'll just end this here.

Hmmm. Title is why? :confused:

^I'm terrible with naming things (and I was tired when I made this journal), so I just went with a reference.

The Standard - August (2002)
http://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/...ers/august.png
The Standard are an indie rock band that was formed in Portland, Oregon in 1999. Despite touring with bands like Wire and The Shins, they aren't really well known (only having almost 6,100 listeners on last.fm). I found out about these guys back when I first joined Music Banter and took a look in the thread "MB's Most Wanted" (and they had a good reason to be in there: their albums are almost impossible to find online... well, when it comes to download links).

August is a good indie rock album that has some tempo changes (the best example of this being "Bells to the Boxer"), distorted guitars and synths scattered around the album. It's not for everyone (I wouldn't be surprised if some found it boring), but if you like a bit of melancholy in your indie rock, feel free to give this album a spin.

I know that this review sucked, but it's the first one I've ever written. I'll try to expand on my thoughts about albums in later reviews.

Sure, I understand that, I just wondered what it referred to? Being Irish, a) we call oatmeal "porridge" and b) I have never heard this reference.

Your review was short and succinct, but I wouldn't say it sucked. At least you gave an idea what the bands were about and used some YouTubes for those whose attention span can't even take in those few lines. Most importantly, you bothered to write something.

Not everyone can write thousands of words per review --- I sometimes cut mine to 200, though that's really a challenge for me, usually I do write a lot --- but as long as you get across even the basic interest you have it all helps.

Look forward to your next --- hopefully longer! --- review.
:)

I actually plan on posting a review either this evening or tomorrow, but would a mod mind changing the thread name to "Shapeshifting - Chrysalis' Journal"?

Done! I like it :)

Yeah, much better. Could you delete my two messages too please, as they now make no sense? TVM!

http://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/...nationtime.png
Joe McPhee - Nation Time (1971)

Let me get this out of the way: I don’t know that much about avant-garde jazz. The only albums from this sub-genre that I’ve heard are John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Sun Ra’s Space is the Place. When it comes to jazz, I personally feel a lot more comfortable with Miles Davis’ and John Coltrane’s earlier albums, but I decided to get this since I felt like needed some more experimental jazz in my collection.

I went into Joe McPhee’s debut album with very few expectations. For some reason, all that I was expecting was a bunch of jazz instruments soloing at the same time for 40 minutes, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that this was not the case. Yes, there is a lot of soloing on this album, but the only track which has the majority of it being comprised of soloing is the closer. The first track, Nation Time has a nice balance between instrumental chaos and some more traditional jazz. The second track, Shakey Jake doesn’t have many solos as well, but when they appear, it’s just one instrument soloing at a time. Actually, the second track was obviously influenced by funk, and it doesn’t remove the influence at any point during the song. The last track, Scorpio's Dance is pretty weak in my opinion, and could have definitely been trimmed by a few minutes. It pretty much consists of constant soloing (although there’s a couple of short breaks that last for about 20-30 seconds), but unlike the title track, I found it to be more annoying than captivating.

Did I like this album? Aside from the last track, I did. While I wouldn’t recommend this for people who are interested in getting into more experimental jazz (I’d just say to listen to A Love Supreme), this will probably appeal more to those who are more into avant-garde jazz than I am. Still, this was a pretty interesting album that I’ll probably return to after a few months have passed.



(I understand if some people think that this review sucks, but this is the first time that I’ve written anything since my sophomore year ended back in May)

No, a decent review, but unfortunately that pretty much sums up how I see and expect jazz to be, and it's a genre that I really have no interest in. Just one of those things. I know not ALL jazz is going to be like that, but it just does nothing for me.

Nice to see you getting back to the journal though... :thumb:

Dude. That album sounds completely badass. I must listen to it immediately.

I myself do enjoy avant garde jazz, so I think I'll like that last track more than you do.

And Trollheart, I once again am amazed that you can listen to the most pompous, technical power metal all day long and yet you have issues with showiness in jazz. I need to find a jazz album you like.